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Andy Ihnatko's Review is Up

Chupa Chupa

Chupa Chupa

macrumors G5
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
14,835
7,396
This is the one review I've been waiting to read b/c he is always interested in the gadget and not caught up in who makes it and is also very thorough. His review is a litle late for me - already have an iP4, but it's a good read. Maybe it can help out fence sitters, though I think people here have chosen sides at this point.

Review Link
 
His iPhone broke when he dropped it on the floor of a restaurant.

While he seems to take pains to discount this as something that would happen to any phone and its not a big deal, it still makes me wonder how fragile the new iPhone is compared to the older models.
 
I buy a phone never intending to drop it. It's an elegant, amazingly designed phone. They could tell me I could run over it with a car, bottom line is I'm going to assume that if I drop it (especially on concrete) it's going to break. At the very least become a scratched mess that I don't even want to look at.

Really the moral of the story is, don't drop your 700.00 high tech cell phone. Crazy I know...
 
Ferris23 said:
I buy a phone never intending to drop it. It's an elegant, amazingly designed phone. They could tell me I could run over it with a car, bottom line is I'm going to assume that if I drop it (especially on concrete) it's going to break. At the very least become a scratched mess that I don't even want to look at.

Really the moral of the story is, don't drop your 700.00 high tech cell phone. Crazy I know...
Click to expand...

Accidents happen! Especially to things you carry around wherever you go, its not like its a glass vase sitting on a shelf somewhere. People bring this out to bars, restaurants, work, buses, trains, cars, airplanes, etc... No matter how careful you are, the majority of people are bound to drop something like that at some point.
 
Bodhi395 said:
Accidents happen! Especially to things you carry around wherever you go, its not like its a glass vase sitting on a shelf somewhere. People bring this out to bars, restaurants, work, buses, trains, cars, airplanes, etc... No matter how careful you are, the majority of people are bound to drop something like that at some point.
Click to expand...

Oh believe me I understand that. As a father of a 3 year old I know all about dropping things while trying to keep your kid in order. With that being said I only use my phone when I'm capable on focusing only on it and unless I have my daughter in my arms, that phone is my priority when carrying anything.

I also am not one of these people that sits the phone on my lap in the car, forgets, then jumps out of the car.

;)

But yeah, **** happens. Just be more careful and it increases your odds of not dropping it.
 
Bodhi395 said:
His iPhone broke when he dropped it on the floor of a restaurant.

While he seems to take pains to discount this as something that would happen to any phone and its not a big deal, it still makes me wonder how fragile the new iPhone is compared to the older models.
Click to expand...

From what he wrote it sounded like he did more the drop it, but rather he lost his grip and it "flew" off. That is how I read it anyway. Also he said the phone may have survived if it wasn't naked.

I assume he'll be on MacBreak Weekly today or Gadgets and Games this week w/ more details on the fall. But bottom line as he says, we have to take care of our toys, which in my mind means use a case.
 
Bodhi395 said:
Accidents happen! Especially to things you carry around wherever you go, its not like its a glass vase sitting on a shelf somewhere. People bring this out to bars, restaurants, work, buses, trains, cars, airplanes, etc... No matter how careful you are, the majority of people are bound to drop something like that at some point.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. Most cell phone users are going to drop their phone at some time, not out of neglect or irresponsibility....but because life happens. Knowing that, a cell phone should be designed to withstand a few minimal mishaps.

It's a gorgeous phone, but it pretty much requires some protection or else the majority of users are going to suffer a break, chip or scratch at some point.
 
He stated:

It’s not necessary to hold the iPhone 4 in a specific way to avoid the problem. Quite the opposite; in my experiments, I found that there was just one position in which the signal degrades ...and it’s not even how I normally hold a phone.
Click to expand...

and now I have to wonder how the hell he holds the phone that apparently is so different from how the overwhelming majority of people do actually hold it which happens to be like all of Apple's marketing media for the iPhone 4...

Is he left handed, perhaps, and never holds the phone in his left hand while actively using it? Guess I need to fire off an email and ask.
 
br0adband said:
He stated:



and now I have to wonder how the hell he holds the phone that apparently is so different from how the overwhelming majority of people do actually hold it which happens to be like all of Apple's marketing media for the iPhone 4...

Is he left handed, perhaps, and never holds the phone in his left hand while actively using it? Guess I need to fire off an email and ask.
Click to expand...

Or tweet if you are on Twitter. Let us know if you get a response.
 
Would you trust someone who can't even purchase a pair of sunglasses that don't slide down his nose in every picture? ;)
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Or tweet if you are on Twitter. Let us know if you get a response.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I can't do that hyper-burst communication stuff. I've been doing this online chat/communication thing so long that when I started, 140 characters of information would have taken almost 4 seconds to transmit correctly. :)

Email will do just fine.
 
Bodhi395 said:
Accidents happen! Especially to things you carry around wherever you go, its not like its a glass vase sitting on a shelf somewhere. People bring this out to bars, restaurants, work, buses, trains, cars, airplanes, etc... No matter how careful you are, the majority of people are bound to drop something like that at some point.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and when I dropped my 3G the plastic back cracked.

So why are people worrying so much about this particular phone? Things drop. Things break. You can put them in ridiculous cases (some like them, I don't) or pay to have them fixed when they break (which is what I did).

I've never seen so much fear as I have with this particular device. I don't get it. People have been buying portable electronics for decades. Are we not all used to this by now?
 
mantan said:
I couldn't agree more. Most cell phone users are going to drop their phone at some time, not out of neglect or irresponsibility....but because life happens. Knowing that, a cell phone should be designed to withstand a few minimal mishaps.

It's a gorgeous phone, but it pretty much requires some protection or else the majority of users are going to suffer a break, chip or scratch at some point.
Click to expand...

Did you not watch videos of it being dropped onto concrete/asphalt up to 4 times until it finally broke? (when it was intentionally dropped directly on it's "corner"). To say this phone can't handle "a few minimal mishaps" is pretty ignorant considering the proof to the contrary.

I dropped mine onto a hard tile floor putting a "dent" in my SS. If it hit hard enough to dent the SS, it can surely take pretty substantial abuse.
 
From seeing people break their 3GSs I can say the iPhone 4 seems like it has a much more sturdy design. With the bumper even moreso.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
This is the one review I've been waiting to read b/c he is always interested in the gadget and not caught up in who makes it and is also very thorough. His review is a litle late for me - already have an iP4, but it's a good read. Maybe it can help out fence sitters, though I think people here have chosen sides at this point.

Review Link
Click to expand...

I'm puzzled by that statement. I always thought Andy was a thoroughbred Apple-ite. Doesn't he host some sort of Mac related podcast / columns?
 
colmaclean said:
Would you trust someone who can't even purchase a pair of sunglasses that don't slide down his nose in every picture? ;)
Click to expand...

If he was offering advice on how to dress def. not. But Ihnatko is pretty even keeled when it comes to gadget reviews. That is the criterion I use to judge his work. Plus he's intelligently witty rather than cliche snarky so 2 bonus points there. If you ever see him on on a podcast or web show you'll see what I mean.

Ipadq said:
I'm puzzled by that statement. I always thought Andy was a thoroughbred Apple-ite. Doesn't he host some sort of Mac related podcast / columns?
Click to expand...

Yes, he is a big Apple fan, but not because it has an Apple logo, but because he likes the products. He is not shy about picking Apple products apart where they fail or lack. He is def. not a "rah rah rah" guy like Mossberg. He is a regular on MacBreak Weekly. Watch a few shows (it's on iTunes or live every Tues @ 11am/ pac, 2pm eastern @ twitlive.tv) and you'll see what I mean.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
If he was offering advice on how to dress def. not. But Ihnatko is pretty even keeled when it comes to gadget reviews. That is the criterion I use to judge his work. Plus he's intelligently witty rather than cliche snarky so 2 bonus points there. If you ever see him on on a podcast or web show you'll see what I mean.



Yes, he is a big Apple fan, but not because it has an Apple logo, but because he likes the products. He is not shy about picking Apple products apart where they fail or lack. He is def. not a "rah rah rah" guy like Mossberg. He is a regular on MacBreak Weekly. Watch a few shows (it's on iTunes or live every Tues @ 11am/ pac, 2pm eastern @ twitlive.tv) and you'll see what I mean.
Click to expand...

Ihnatko is good, but let's get real, I don't think he's ever panned an apple product. I wouldn't go as far to call him an apple apologist though. He's a smart apple fan, that is true. He doesn't just geekly love anything apple like most people. I do love hearing/reading his opinions. He won't pan the competition as much, but he has always been a positive reviewer of apple products. Why else do you think he gets units early to review?
 
I got to meet Andy Ihnatko at Macworld San Francisco 2000. I even got a picture with him. Met him at the David Pogue forum. Check out my picture with him below. Pretty cool guy. I was only 17 then, I am 28 now.

wardandy.jpg
 
dwd3885 said:
Ihnatko is good, but let's get real, I don't think he's ever panned an apple product. I wouldn't go as far to call him an apple apologist though. He's a smart apple fan, that is true. He doesn't just geekly love anything apple like most people. I do love hearing/reading his opinions. He won't pan the competition as much, but he has always been a positive reviewer of apple products. Why else do you think he gets units early to review?
Click to expand...

I can't recall him outright panning an Apple product, no, but then it's been a long time since Apple has produced an outright dog of a product. Just a quick jog down memory lane and I have to go back to the mid/late 90s. Thinking Pippin, the PB 5300 series, many of the Performas, the Newton.

I don't perceive him as sycophant, and that is all I can ask of an honest reviewer.

tomashi said:
why is his website formatted so terribly?
Click to expand...

You'd have to ask him but probably because it's up for kicks and he has better things to do w/ his time.
 
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